Flexible takt times through overlapping zones: an assessment by simulation

Most production lines in practice rely on some form of output control since realised cycle times fluctuate. One simple yet effective approach is flexible takt times. Since takt times are distributed over the whole production cycle, flexible takt times require an overlap of work (and thus time) zones. There are arguably three main approaches: restricted zones of overlap, free zones of overlap, and complete overlap. The first is known as variable takt, the second as bucket brigade or baton zone bumping, and the last as rotating seru or rabbit chase. This study assesses the different approaches for the first time using discrete event simulation. Results show that combining rotating seru with passing leads to the best performance in our simulated environment. An in-depth analysis further indicates a dynamic interplay of hand-off, idle, blocking and transport time that explains performance results. Findings have major implications for practice and future research.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  International Journal of Production Research

• Publication date

  2025-07-10

• Fields of study

  Computer Science, Engineering

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1080/00207543.2025.2528950
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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